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Gene Flow and Hybridization between Numerically Imbalanced Populations of Two Duck Species in the Falkland Islands

Interspecific hybridization is common in plants and animals, particularly in waterfowl (Anatidae). One factor shown to contribute to hybridization is restricted mate choice, which can occur when two species occur in sympatry but one is rare. The Hubbs principle, or “desperation hypothesis,” states t...

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Autores principales: McCracken, Kevin G., Wilson, Robert E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3162561/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21887236
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023173
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author McCracken, Kevin G.
Wilson, Robert E.
author_facet McCracken, Kevin G.
Wilson, Robert E.
author_sort McCracken, Kevin G.
collection PubMed
description Interspecific hybridization is common in plants and animals, particularly in waterfowl (Anatidae). One factor shown to contribute to hybridization is restricted mate choice, which can occur when two species occur in sympatry but one is rare. The Hubbs principle, or “desperation hypothesis,” states that under such circumstances the rarer species is more likely to mate with heterospecifics. Here we report interspecific hybridization between two waterfowl species that coexist in broad sympatry and mixed flocks throughout southern South America. Speckled teal (Anas flavirostris) and yellow-billed pintails (Anas georgica) are abundant in continental South America, but in the Falkland Islands speckled teal outnumber yellow-billed pintails approximately ten to one. Using eight genetic loci (mtDNA and 7 nuclear introns) coupled with Bayesian assignment tests and relatedness analysis, we identified a speckled teal x yellow-billed pintail F(1) hybrid female and her duckling sired by a male speckled teal. Although our sample in the Falkland Islands was small, we failed to identify unequivocal evidence of hybridization or introgression in a much larger sample from Argentina using a three-population “isolation with migration” coalescent analysis. While additional data are needed to determine if this event in the Falkland Islands was a rare singular occurrence, our results provide further support for the “desperation hypothesis,” which states that scarcity in one population and abundance of another will often lead to hybridization.
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spelling pubmed-31625612011-09-01 Gene Flow and Hybridization between Numerically Imbalanced Populations of Two Duck Species in the Falkland Islands McCracken, Kevin G. Wilson, Robert E. PLoS One Research Article Interspecific hybridization is common in plants and animals, particularly in waterfowl (Anatidae). One factor shown to contribute to hybridization is restricted mate choice, which can occur when two species occur in sympatry but one is rare. The Hubbs principle, or “desperation hypothesis,” states that under such circumstances the rarer species is more likely to mate with heterospecifics. Here we report interspecific hybridization between two waterfowl species that coexist in broad sympatry and mixed flocks throughout southern South America. Speckled teal (Anas flavirostris) and yellow-billed pintails (Anas georgica) are abundant in continental South America, but in the Falkland Islands speckled teal outnumber yellow-billed pintails approximately ten to one. Using eight genetic loci (mtDNA and 7 nuclear introns) coupled with Bayesian assignment tests and relatedness analysis, we identified a speckled teal x yellow-billed pintail F(1) hybrid female and her duckling sired by a male speckled teal. Although our sample in the Falkland Islands was small, we failed to identify unequivocal evidence of hybridization or introgression in a much larger sample from Argentina using a three-population “isolation with migration” coalescent analysis. While additional data are needed to determine if this event in the Falkland Islands was a rare singular occurrence, our results provide further support for the “desperation hypothesis,” which states that scarcity in one population and abundance of another will often lead to hybridization. Public Library of Science 2011-08-26 /pmc/articles/PMC3162561/ /pubmed/21887236 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023173 Text en McCracken, Wilson. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
McCracken, Kevin G.
Wilson, Robert E.
Gene Flow and Hybridization between Numerically Imbalanced Populations of Two Duck Species in the Falkland Islands
title Gene Flow and Hybridization between Numerically Imbalanced Populations of Two Duck Species in the Falkland Islands
title_full Gene Flow and Hybridization between Numerically Imbalanced Populations of Two Duck Species in the Falkland Islands
title_fullStr Gene Flow and Hybridization between Numerically Imbalanced Populations of Two Duck Species in the Falkland Islands
title_full_unstemmed Gene Flow and Hybridization between Numerically Imbalanced Populations of Two Duck Species in the Falkland Islands
title_short Gene Flow and Hybridization between Numerically Imbalanced Populations of Two Duck Species in the Falkland Islands
title_sort gene flow and hybridization between numerically imbalanced populations of two duck species in the falkland islands
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3162561/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21887236
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023173
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